A director with great heart, legendary filmmaker Ernst Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) was born on this day in Uppsala, Sweden. The son of a strict Lutheran minister, the enigmatic Swede fell in love with the movies at an early age and pledged: "I will be a great director, I want to be!"

His first screenplay, Frenzy (1944), led to his directorial debut in Crisis (1945). He gained worldwide recognition with Summer Interlude (1951).

"To shoot a film is to organize a complete universe," he once said of his craft.

His symbolic and somber films celebrated the power of black and white photography. His films explored faith, love, and morality. His heroes were selfish and self-destructive. Often desolate and startling, always passionate, he was a poet with the camera, an inspiration to generations.

"Bergman is indeed a wordcrafter, who in his somewhat eccentric style produces people and lives of flesh and blood," praised writer Ingvar Engen.

In later years, Bergman turned his focus on stage productions. "The theater is like a faithful wife. The film is the great adventure -- the costly, exacting mistress," said Bergman, who wed five times.

"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls," he once said.